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Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am able to do exactly what the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, wishes. Amendment No. 31 seeks to clarify that the power of the national authority to appoint a person to discharge the functions of the commons registration authority would relate only to that authority’s functions in relation to determining an application or proposal. The powers in Clause 24 relate to applications and proposals under Part 1. Subsection (1) provides for regulations about any application for the amendment of a register for the purposes of this part. Subsection (6) refers to provision for the appointment of a person to discharge any or all of the functions of the commons registration authority in relation to an application or proposal. Despite the misgivings raised by the noble Lord in Committee about the powers available to a national authority under subsection (6), those powers are strictly limited to the provision in relation to applications and proposals under Part 1. It may help if I clarify that proposals here refer to quasi applications that are put forward by the registration authority itself under Clause 19(4)(a) or paragraph 2(5)(b) of Schedule 2. So under the Bill it is not possible for the national authority to remove or transfer the duty of a registration authority to keep and maintain the registers under Clause 1. I hope that this unequivocal assurance and placing it firmly on the record will satisfy the noble Lord, Lord Greaves.